


Running Up That Hill Chapter Five

by broadwayblainey



Series: Running Up That Hill [5]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, sad brother-in-laws, the usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 12:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14715797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broadwayblainey/pseuds/broadwayblainey
Summary: I know this probably has 100 mistakes and I’m not completely happy with it but I hope you still enjoy!Cooper pays his brother a visit.





	Running Up That Hill Chapter Five

The thing about Cooper is, Kurt had thought since they had first met, is that you always know he's there. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it was just how he was different to Blaine. Blaine, though happy to take centre stage, could also blend into a crowd when he had to, or allow others to be at the forefront. With Cooper, though, he was loud and confident in a way that alluded Blaine. His smiles were always easy and sincere and nothing ever seemed to get to him, whereas Blaine would obsess over the way someone looked at him, or beat himself up over every mistake. Life had always come easily to Cooper Anderson.  
Until he wasn't loud, anymore, and he wasn't smiling. Until Kurt woke up on the bed they had rolled next to Blaine's and saw Cooper, hunched and baggy-eyed and perched on the end of Blaine's bed, and things were so far away from easy they couldn't even see it in the rearview mirror.  
"Hey," Kurt croaked and cleared his throat. He didn't sit up, he just rubbed his cheek against his pillow and blinked his eyes against the fluorescent lights of the hospital room.  
"Hey," Cooper didn't look at him, he was staring at Blaine. They were quiet for a while; Cooper sat looking at Blaine and Kurt tried to keep his breathing in time with Blaine's slow breathes.  
"There's no change," he said, mostly because he didn't know what else to say and he hated the quiet. Cooper didn't seem to notice that Kurt had said anything for a minute until he blinked and looked at Kurt.  
"Huh?" he asked, and he somehow looked like a little boy and an old man at the same time, he had a look of absolute bewilderment on his face but the dark circles under his eyes gave him away.  
"There's been no change since you were here yesterday," he repeated.  
"Oh," was all Cooper managed. He looked away from Kurt and back to Blaine. They fell into silence again and Cooper reached out and held Blaine's hand.   
"How long have you been here?" Kurt asked, trying and failing to blink away the drowsiness of sleep still clouding his vision.  
"I don't know, like, twenty minutes. I wanted to stop by before I take Ava to the airport."  
"You should have woke me up," he sat up and took his brother-in-law in; Kurt didn't think anyone else had ever seen Cooper Anderson look like this, and Kurt wished he hadn't, either.  
"I didn't want to, you needed to sleep; you kind of looked like crap," Cooper said. "No offense."  
"I could say the same to you," Kurt said, and he would have if Cooper hadn't beaten him to it. They both shared a weapy grin and Cooper turned back to his brother. They were quiet again for a while and Kurt wiped his tears in his pillowcase.  
"Has he ever told you about how he fell out of a tree when he was a kid?" Cooper asked, seemingly out of nowhere but Kurt knew that's just the way Cooper's mind worked.  
"Yeah, he told me," Kurt smiled sadly. "He has a scar on his head, in his hair, that's why he -"  
"Gels it," Cooper finished, with a sad smile that echoed Kurt's. "I was meant to be watching him," he said. "My parents were ... somewhere, I don't remember. I was - I was meant to be watching him but I was on the phone in our old kitchen and I looked out the window just in time to see him fall. I was terrified."  
"Cooper -"  
"I ran out to him, he was on his front in the grass, he'd banged his head on his way down and was unconscious," he said and wiped his eyes in the sleeve of his leather jacket. "I called an ambulance and, by the time they got there, he was awake. I just - I held him in my arms and he was so small and so scared. I kept telling him he was going to be okay, that he was alright, but -" he stopped and his shoulders were shaking up and down with deep, awful sobs. Kurt suddenly realised he had never seen Cooper cry before. "But I'm his big brother, I should take care of him."  
"It was an accident, Coop," Kurt said, and he wasn't sure about which accident he was talking about. "You couldn't have known what would happen."  
Mostly he was saying that to himself. He had gone over and over and over it in his head and, if he had gone and got the car, Blaine wouldn't be like this now. He would be fine. And maybe Kurt wouldn't be, maybe Kurt would be in a hospital bed, half dead and asleep. That is a deal he would make; Blaine's live, Blaine's happiness, for his. Every time.  
"Neither could you," Cooper said. When Kurt looked at him, he wasn't looking at Blaine, he was looking back at him. "You couldn't have known, either."  
Maybe Kurt hadn't given Cooper enough credit. Or maybe not, but he was still grateful for him.  
"Shit," Cooper sighed. He wiped his cheeks again and stood up. "I got to go, I have to take Ava," he sat down again, this time next to Kurt's legs. "Unless you want me to stay."  
"No, you go. Ava's needs a ride," he squeezed Cooper's hand and tried to smile. "Who, by the way, we really do like."  
"Yeah. She's..." he trailed off and sighed again. He looked like he wanted to say something else but just said, "Yeah," he hugged Kurt close, suddenly, and kissed his head quickly. "When Blaine wakes up, I'll marry her," he said and finally let go of him. He pushed himself off of the bed and stood next to Blaine's head. "You hear that, squirt? I'll marry her, but you have to wake up because there's no way I'll do it without you," he kissed Blaine's forehead and whispered something that Kurt couldn't hear. Kurt dabbed the tears off of his cheeks with his hand before Cooper turned around. When he turned he said, "You call me if anything changes, or if you need anything, okay?"  
"Okay."  
"Promise?"  
"I promise," they stared at each other dumbly for a minute. "Come here," Kurt said and he held his arms out. Cooper pulled him up and onto his feet and into another tight hug. "Go," he said after a minute. "I'll call you."  
"Okay," he murmured against Kurt's shoulder. He pulled away and again looked as if he wanted to say something, his lips moved slightly and his eyebrows were drawn up tight. "Okay, I'll come back tomorrow."  
Kurt just nodded and Cooper walked to the door. He didn't stop and look back in the doorway and Kurt understood that because that had been his mistake. Every time he tried to leave, he looked back and he saw how small his husband looked, and he always found it too hard to leave. So, he didn't.   
He had sat in Blaine's room since Blaine had got there, only leaving to use the adjoining bathroom. The hospital staff had tried to make him leave, they had told him about visiting hours, that he should go home and shower, that he should get some air, clear his head. Then, they had given up. They had seen that trying to get Kurt to leave Blaine was a battle that no one could win.  
So, he had stayed. Sometimes his Dad was there, or Carole, or Cooper, or, sometimes, all three of them. Santana had been in twice. She hadn't stayed long, she hated hospital, which just made Kurt appreciate her more. When this was over, he would thank her, but not yet. Kurt had realised, though, that it didn't matter who was with him, he still felt perfectly alone.   
He hated that. He hated that more than he hated the quiet. After spending most of his childhood and teenage years alone, after his mother had died and his Dad started working more, even after he grew closer to his Dad and made and lost and made more friends, he never wanted to feel alone again. And he didn't think he would, not after he met Blaine.  
But here he was; he was alone, and it was quiet. And Kurt hated the quiet.


End file.
